4 Tips On How To Organize Your Closet and Keep It That Way!

An early morning run seemed like a great idea this morning until I looked at the weather and it was 36 degrees outside! I ran to my closet to change from mid-length running pants to full- fledged Hyperwarm Nike running clothes and realized those were tucked away in storage containers. So, since I spent UNDER an hour reorganizing my closet (yes, I reorganized my whole closet in under an hour), I thought I should surely share the secret.

Your closet is your very own department store!  You are the owner, and it’s time to do some inventory replacement.  You don’t have to spend a ton of money on getting a new closet system made.  All it really takes is a one-time evaluation of your closet to make each year a smoother transition between seasons.

Separate, coordinate, reposition and arrange are 4 easy steps to keep your 6:00 am rush to get dressed for any occasion down to a minimum.  Let’s look at each of these steps in more detail.

Photo via www.popeater.com

Separate 

To separate clothes so that it will make sense to you, first you need to think of your lifestyle.  What do you wear most…a suit, sweats, heels, tennis shoes? Align the items of importance to you like the grocery store aligns groceries - at eye level to catch your attention.  This will make the early morning grab of clothes easier than sorting and sifting through gym clothes, jeans, and finally to your suit you need for work.

Shoes should be separated in the same manner.  Group them together from dressy, casual, to flip flops and boots. 

Clean storage containers of all sizes can help with the closet organization process as well.  I have a 5 stack slim storage container that I use in my closet to separate my undergarments and socks.  I noticed how Victoria’s Secret separated their items into bins and drawers to keep the shape of the bras.  So, I just copied their idea and applied it to my closet.

Coordinate

Now that you have items of importance at a quick reach, color coordinate them in like color arrangements.  Items such as white long sleeve shirts and polo style shirts should already be separated from each other, so now just coordinate each separation into color groups.

Also, coordinate your styles of pants from slacks to jeans on the proper hangers to decrease the unwanted pleat from a hanger.

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Reposition

With the weather turning colder so suddenly, now is a great time to move the tank tops, shorts and flip flops to storage bins and reposition the sweaters, jeans, boots and jackets into their places in your closet. It was so easy to reposition items this morning because I had already separated them last year.

All I had to do is this…I simply took the stacks of summer clothing (tanks and shorts) and then I pulled out the storage bins of sweaters and sweats and replaced the items in the storage bins for the appropriate season.  It’s a simple switch!  This makes it an easy repositioning transition every season.  And, when the warm Texas weather comes back again in the spring, I will simply take a few minutes and do the process again (only the winter clothes will go back into the bin and the summer clothes will get organized into my closet).  

Arrange

Arrange the items in your closet in a way that shows you what you wear most often.  And here’s a helpful tip:  when you wear an item and rehang it, be sure to turn the hanger the opposite way to show you how often you are wearing certain pieces. (We all have favorite outfits, but our friends and coworkers would probably like to see us in something else once in a while).

Also, place your heels in toe to heel positioning (in other words:  one shoe will show the toe and the other of the same pair will show the heel) to show the height of the heel and style all in one quick glance. If most of your shoes are in boxes, assign one of your kids a paid job to take pictures of each shoe. You can send those pictures straight from your smart phone to your local drugstore and usually have them delivered to your door!  Then, simply tape the pictures of the shoes on each box.  How is that for organization made easy?  You know what I like to say, “Team work makes the dream work”...and it also teaches children the importance of organization.

I am sure after doing this a few times you may even find the need to get rid of a few items.  While separating, coordinating, repositioning and arranging you may find clothes that no longer fit or you simply aren’t going to use.  But, please remember that someone else may be able to get some more wonderful use out of the items.  You can always donate to the local homeless shelter to recycle your clothes for new ones and feel good about it. 

So, I hope these 4 tips on how to organize your closet have helped.  Think of it this way…if you get organized, you can reward yourself by going shopping and picking out something new.  You have the room in your closet for it now – right?  Do you have any closet organizational tips to share?  I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.  

Happy Organizing!